How to Write a Website RFP That Actually Gets You the Right Agency

You’ve decided to hire an agency to build your website. Good call. But now you need to write an RFP—a Request for Proposal. You’ve probably never done this before. You’re not sure what to include. How detailed should it be? How long? What if you leave something out?

A bad RFP leads to bad proposals. Bad proposals lead to hiring the wrong agency. Wrong agency leads to an expensive website that doesn’t solve your problems. You’ve seen this before.

A good RFP prevents all of that. It forces you to think clearly about what you actually need. It helps agencies understand your goals. It generates apples-to-apples proposals you can actually compare.

Here’s how to write an RFP that works.

What Is an RFP and When Do You Need One?

An RFP is a formal document describing a project, asking agencies to submit proposals, and providing evaluation criteria. It’s a conversation starter. It sets expectations. It prevents misunderstandings later.

You need an RFP when:

• You’re hiring an outside agency (not building in-house)
• You’re investing $5,000+ (makes sense to spend time being clear)
• You have multiple objectives and the scope is complex
• You want to compare proposals from different agencies
• You’re not sure what you need (the RFP writing forces clarity)

You don’t need an RFP for simple projects (“I need a small landing page in 2 weeks”) where you’re working with one known vendor.

For most website projects above $10,000, an RFP is absolutely worth your time.

Essential RFP Sections

A good RFP includes these sections. Keep it organized. Make it easy to scan.

1. Company Background and Context (One Page Max)

Briefly introduce your company. What do you do? How long have you been around? How big are you? What’s your market? What makes you different?

This helps agencies understand your industry and scale. A 50-person B2B software company has different needs than a 5-person local service business.

Example: “We’re a boutique HR consulting firm founded in 2015. We work with startups and growth-stage companies (20-500 people) helping them build better hiring and retention strategies. We have 8 employees and annual revenue of $1.2M. We primarily serve tech and fintech companies in the West Coast. We compete on expertise and relationships, not price.”

2. Project Goals and Objectives (Key Section)

What are you actually trying to accomplish? List 3-5 primary goals. Be specific. Don’t say “increase leads.” Say “generate 50 qualified leads per month from our website.”

Good goals examples:

• Generate 30+ high-quality leads per month (people willing to pay $10,000+)
• Increase organic search traffic 50% within 12 months
• Reduce customer onboarding time by enabling 80% to self-serve
• Establish credibility in a new market segment through thought leadership content
• Replace our current outdated website that’s losing customers to competitors

Bad goals examples:

• “Have a modern website”
• “Be on the web”
• “Look professional”

The difference: good goals are measurable. Bad goals are vague.

Agencies will read these goals and know whether they can help you. Vague goals create mismatched expectations.

3. Target Audience and User Personas (Essential)

Who are the people visiting your website? What do they care about? What problems are they trying to solve?

Don’t say “business owners.” Say “CFOs at companies with 50-500 people, focused on reducing overhead, evaluating new software tools quarterly, skeptical of sales-y pitches, trust peer recommendations.”

The more specific you are, the better the agency designs the site. Different user personas need different messaging, different CTAs, different information architecture.

Example persona:

“Primary: VP of Marketing at fast-growth SaaS companies ($2-20M ARR). Age 30-45. Manages 3-8 people. Evaluates tools quarterly. Reads industry blogs. Attends 2-3 conferences yearly. Pain points: team velocity, reporting to leadership, tool integration. Decision-making: wants proof of ROI before buying. No tolerance for lengthy sales cycles.”

4. Current Situation and Problems (Honest Assessment)

What’s wrong with your current website or situation? Be honest. This helps agencies understand what you’re running away from. For a deeper look, read our guide on the difference between custom and template-built sites.

Examples:

• “Our current site is 7 years old, not mobile responsive, built on a CMS we can’t figure out, ranks for almost nothing in Google, and we’re losing customers to competitors with better sites.”
• “We don’t have a website at all. We’ve been relying on word of mouth and referrals. We’re ready to go digital but have no internal expertise.”
• “Our website gets decent traffic but conversion rates are terrible (under 1%). We’ve tried quick fixes but need professional help diagnosing the real problem.”

5. Scope of Work (Detailed)

List what you need the agency to do. Be specific about deliverables.

Example scope:

• Discovery and strategy (competitor analysis, user research, messaging framework)
• Information architecture and sitemap
• Wireframes for 15+ key pages
• Visual design (desktop, tablet, mobile)
• Content strategy and outline (agency writes strategy; client provides copy)
• Development (WordPress CMS, responsive, mobile-first)
• SEO setup (technical SEO, keyword optimization, blog structure)
• Integration (email forms, analytics, CRM)
• Testing (QA, performance, cross-browser, mobile)
• Launch support and monitoring
• Post-launch training (2 sessions on content updates)

What you’re NOT including (important to state):

• Paid ad setup or management
• Copywriting (client provides)
• Hosting beyond initial setup
• Post-launch content updates (beyond training)

6. Timeline and Milestones

When do you need this done? Be realistic. A good custom website takes 3-6 months minimum.

Example timeline:

• Week 1-2: Discovery, strategy, research
• Week 3-4: Sitemap and wireframes
• Week 5-7: Design mockups and feedback
• Week 8-12: Development
• Week 13: Testing and revisions
• Week 14: Launch
• Post-launch: 30 days of support

Total: 14 weeks (about 3.5 months)

State your must-have dates. “We need to launch by Q2 for our annual conference” or “We’re flexible on timing but prefer launch by end of year.”

7. Budget Range (Be Realistic)

This is where most RFPs fail. People either don’t include budget or include unrealistic ones.

Include a budget range. You don’t need an exact number, but agencies need to know if you’re looking to spend $5,000 or $50,000. It changes what they recommend.

Budget ranges by project type:

• Brochure website (5-10 pages, simple): $5,000-15,000
• Business website (15-20 pages, blog, contact forms): $15,000-40,000
• E-commerce (product pages, shopping cart, payment): $25,000-75,000
• Custom webapp (complex features): $50,000+

Be honest. Don’t say “we have $20,000” if you actually have $10,000. Agencies will propose solutions assuming $20,000. Then you get a reality check and everything stalls.

Say: “Our budget is $15,000-25,000. We’re flexible if the value justifies higher investment, but we’d prefer to stay in this range.”

That’s honest and actionable.

8. Evaluation Criteria (Critical)

How will you choose between proposals? State it upfront. This helps agencies focus on what matters to you.

Example evaluation criteria:

• Relevant experience: 40%. Do they have experience in our industry? Have they built similar sites?
• Proposed approach: 30%. Does their methodology match our goals? Is their strategy sound?
• Team and process: 20%. Who will do the work? How do they handle revisions and communication?
• Timeline and feasibility: 10%. Can they actually deliver on our timeline?

Or simpler: “Price 50%, approach 30%, team experience 20%.”

Whatever matters to you, state it. Then agencies know not to over-invest in things you don’t care about.

9. Questions for Responding Agencies

Ask specific questions you want answered in their proposal. This ensures you get comparable proposals.

Example questions:

• Who on your team will be the primary point of contact for this project?
• How do you approach content strategy? What’s included, what’s not?
• What’s your typical revision process? How many rounds of revisions are included?
• How do you handle post-launch support and maintenance?
• Can you provide 3 case studies of similar projects you’ve completed?
• What’s your SEO process? How do you set up the technical foundation?
• How do you handle testing and QA?
• What’s your payment structure? (50% upfront, 50% at launch? Milestones?)

These questions create structure. One agency might say “5 revision rounds included” and another says “Revisions are billed hourly.” Now you can compare.

Common RFP Mistakes to Avoid

Don’t be too vague. “We want a website that works” isn’t helpful. “We want a website that generates 25+ leads per month from a specific audience” is. For a deeper look, read our guide on why accessibility is a legal and business priority.

Don’t ask for everything. “We want a website, an app, a blog platform, email marketing, social media management, and logo redesign.” That’s five different projects, not one. Scope scope scope.

Don’t hide your budget. Agencies will assume you have a big budget and propose something expensive, or assume you’re cheap and propose something minimal. Be upfront.

Don’t expect agencies to do discovery and strategy for free in their proposal. You might ask “how would you approach discovery?” But you shouldn’t ask for a full competitive analysis or messaging framework without paying for it. That’s 10-20 hours of work.

Don’t ask 50 questions and expect detailed answers. It’s overwhelming. Ask the 10-15 that matter. — that’s the kind of site Studio Aurora builds, starting at $1,500 for marketing sites and $3,000 for e-commerce.

How Long Should an RFP Be?

Not that long. 2-4 pages is ideal. You want it detailed enough to be clear, concise enough to actually be read.

Agencies are busy. A 10-page RFP gets skimmed. A 3-page RFP focused on what matters gets careful attention.

Target structure:

• Cover letter and overview: 0.5 pages
• Company background: 0.5 pages
• Goals and objectives: 0.5 pages
• Current situation: 0.5 pages
• Scope of work: 1 page
• Timeline: 0.5 pages
• Budget: 0.25 pages
• Evaluation criteria: 0.25 pages
• Questions: 0.5 pages

Total: 4-5 pages. Readable, specific, actionable.

How to Send It and What to Expect

Send to 3-5 agencies you’re interested in. Not 10. Not 20. Good agencies are selective about projects they take. If you send to 20, most won’t respond.

Send it to the decision-maker at each agency (usually the owner, founder, or business development person). Include a deadline for responses (2-3 weeks is reasonable).

In the email, say: “We’re hiring an agency to build our website. We’ve included an RFP with details on our project, goals, timeline, and budget range. We’d love to hear your thoughts and see a proposal if you’re interested. Please respond by [date] with any questions or your proposal.”

Good agencies will respond with questions or a strong proposal. Bad agencies will either ignore you or send a generic proposal that looks copy-pasted. For a deeper look, read our guide on why your website is your most important sales tool.

The good ones asking clarifying questions? That’s a sign they care about actually understanding your project.

Evaluating Proposals

When proposals come in, don’t just compare prices. Look at:

• Approach: Do they understand your goals? Is their methodology sound?
• Team: Who’s doing the work? Have they done similar projects?
• Timeline: Is it realistic? Do they understand the complexity?
• Communication: Did they ask good questions in their proposal? Do they seem to get your business?
• Price: Is it within budget? Is the pricing fair for the scope?

Red flags: Prices that are dramatically lower than others (usually means corners being cut). Proposals that don’t answer your questions. Agencies that seem to be copying a template proposal. No references or case studies.

Green flags: Agencies asking thoughtful questions. References they provide are willing to talk to you. They understand your industry. The proposal is customized to your project.

The Bottom Line

A good RFP takes a few hours to write. It forces you to think clearly about what you need. It helps agencies understand your goals. It generates proposals you can actually compare.

A bad RFP—or no RFP at all—leads to misaligned expectations, surprising costs, and agencies that don’t deliver what you wanted.

The time you spend writing a clear RFP saves you months of confusion later and thousands of dollars in scope creep and revisions.

Use the template above. Be specific about goals. Be clear about budget. Ask good questions. Then you’ll get proposals from agencies that actually understand your project—and you can hire with confidence.